


Altogether Too Queenly

by Jougetsu



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21843925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jougetsu/pseuds/Jougetsu
Summary: Katherine Brooke disliked the new Principal of Summerside High simply for stealing her promotion. Katherine Brooke despised Miss Anne Shirley for being the object of her increasing infatuation.
Relationships: Katherine Brooke/Anne Shirley
Comments: 12
Kudos: 53
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Altogether Too Queenly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littlerhymes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlerhymes/gifts).



> Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write about Katherine, dear recipient! This little piece is more of less canon compliant up to the canon Christmas visit except Anne and Gilbert are not engaged, and Anne is well-adjusted in her late Victorian queerness.

Katherine Brooke was well accustomed to having her hopes dashed. Disappointment was not rare in her experience, rather it was the regular course of events. She did not pity herself, she was too jaded to have any truck with pity be it from herself or from others. The position of Principal of Summerside High School ought have been hers by dint of seniority and competence. While she was not the darling of society, the families of Summerside respected her as a school teacher ought be and she was enough of a fixture to be a comfort. The school board knew her, the clan Pringle found her adequate, and she was of good character even if she lacked charm. She never stepped a toe out of line, never flirted with the barest hint of scandal. 

A Pringle cousin was up for the Principalship as well, but the odds were not entirely out of Katherine’s favor. The cousin was young and with decent prospects. The Pringles might be somewhat miffed if their blood was overlooked, but Katherine’s longstanding position would smooth that over. Everything seemed to be going about as well as one could expect for Katherine Brooke. Perhaps she would even reward herself with a new book or a hat once she secured the position though she knew she likely wouldn’t as the voices of her aunt and uncle still lurked in her conscience. 

Then came Miss Shirley. 

Miss Anne-with-an-E Shirley, for only the queenly spelling would do for their new Principal, was rumored to be a young and bright chit of not even three-and-twenty with a coveted BA from Redmond. When the resume had come through no one had paid it much mind, but apparently Miss Shirley was vivacious, sweet, learned, and witty enough to win over the entire Board without reservation. Even the staunchest Pringles of the Board were able to forget their cousin in light of such a candidate. 

Crying was for infants and the feeble-minded, so Uncle had always intoned thus Katherine did not cry when she received the news. Not even in her chilly, narrow bed did she let a single tear spill. Who did she think she was? Homely, sarcastic, and miserable Miss Brooke was no one’s idea of a principal to be woven into Summerside society. How did other people bear continued misery? There was no sister for Katherine to write to, no intimate friend with whom she could bare her soul, not even a friendly lapdog that would tolerate her bony lap long enough for a choked down sob. 

The only balm to Katherine’s withered soul was that the Pringles had united against Miss Shirley before she even arrived in Summerside. Promoting the Vice Principal over their cousin might have been permitted, though they would have grumbled all the way, but an outsider of no import or connection was not to be tolerated. They sabotaged the new Principal’s boarding arrangements and made it known that none of the family were invite Miss Shirley around for dinners or parties. The petty side of Katherine was pleased, nearly pleased enough that she might have simply been coolly cordial towards this new Principal rather than cold outright. 

This plan evaporated the moment Miss Shirley waltzed through the door. She was even worse than the rumors had intimated. It was not enough that Miss Shirley was young and charming, she was quick to laugh, she smiled altogether too much, and she was fashionable! If the Pringles had not ganged against her she would have been the belle of the town inside two weeks. She proffered acquaintanceship with an ease that made Katherine’s hackles rise up on end. 

Yes, Katherine Brooke hated Anne Shirley. She was everything Katherine could never be and desperately craved. It did not help in the least that Miss Shirley made her stomach tight and her tongue clumsy in her mouth. Katherine had done a very good job of smothering her untoward admiration for the female form and heart over the years. Her last dizzying profusion of infatuation was right after Queens and fizzled out nicely when the object of her affections married an odious man for his large farm inheritance. 

Yet a full term passed and Katherine was ever haunted by the curve of Miss Shirley’s pale, freckled neck, the limpidness of her gray eyes, and her marvelous laugh that could be heard a room away. In Katherine’s limited imagination she sometimes daydreamed about a world where she and Miss Shirley were dear friends. But the daydreams vanished because whenever she pictured Miss Shirley’s face there was always pity in it.

Pity! Pity when all Katherine longed for was to be desired and adored in her own private fantasies! If she did not think of faces and thought of being kissed it went slightly better. And it was easier to dream when Miss Shirley had roped her into the autumn play. The final days of dressing the stage involved a great deal of their hands touching and steadying each other. 

‘It would be nice to go to my grave having known affectionate touch,’ Katherine wrote that evening in her rarely written-in diary. ‘This was as close as I’ve gotten, which is distressing.’

One of the benefits and disadvantages of school teaching was that the year fell into a predictable rhythm. Sometimes Katherine enjoyed knowing how things would play out, at other times the boredom threatened to drown her. But Miss Shirley threw a kink into that as she did everything else. For suddenly, without reason or warning, the Pringles adored Miss Shirley with enthusiasm and generosity. 

Which now made Miss Brooke was once more the least regarded teacher at Summerside High and it was galling. Not that she hated George MacKay, the prep teacher. If she were to ever like a man it would be MacKay with his shy smile and Highland lilt, but Katherine had a queer suspicion that MacKay’s tastes were also inverted which made him a sort of comrade. 

‘With every household alight for her I am certain it is simply a matter of time before our Miss Shirley is married,’ was Katherine’s notation of Miss Shirley’s change in fortune. It was madness itself that Miss Shirley was not already attached. There were rumors of a beau back in her hometown, but Miss Shirley insisted a certain Mister Gilbert Blythe was merely a dear chum and confidante. ‘And as married women do not stay employed as teachers at the very least I should be granted my promotion.’

Though it would be awful for Miss Shirley to be married and living in Summerside. What if one day Katherine had to teach a flock of redheaded Shirley children? Perhaps a very eligible bachelor looking to relocate to Charlottetown, or Boston, would whisk Anne-Too-Wonderful-For-Her-Own-Good-Shirley away and out of Katherine Brooke’s life forever. 

Spring gave way to the heat of summer and Miss Shirley returned to her beloved Avonlea for the school holiday. Katherine had two months to master herself and shake all notion, all dream, all yearning for the most winning woman she had ever met.

On September first Katherine realized she had been anything but successful. Miss Shirley returned with the glow of a dryad at Midsummer.

‘How awful it is to be wounded by the object of one’s longings to be too wonderful! How does one reconcile being smitten and being infuriated?’ 

Thankfully, diaries lacked the capacity to answer back. 

The new term passed much as it had the year before (and the year before that et cetera) save that Miss Shirley was still the apple of Summerside’s collective eye. No particular incident occurred which is why Katherine was shocked to find herself accepting Miss Shirley’s invitation to Green Gables for the Christmas. She even walked Miss Shirley back to Spook’s Lane under the light of moon. They were not companionable enough for the silence to be comfortable, yet even that stroll instilled a whisper of a hope in Katherine that the holiday might not be entirely disaster.

‘How I detest hope, especially hope during the holidays,’ she managed to scrawl before bed. ‘It is dazzling and more tempting than any treasure, but more fragile than eggshell.’

Katherine expected the train ride to be miserable, yet despite its very languid definition of speed she could hardly be annoyed with Miss Shirley’s infectious joy. The ride to Green Gables was more pleasant still and that oft-talked-of home of Miss Shirley’s was too dear for words. Miss Cuthbert and Mrs. Lynde were sensible women and gracious hostesses. The twins were better behaved than most of Katherine’s present and former students, though Davy had a mischievous streak that gratified the contrary little girl in her. Everyone chatted naturally as though Katherine were a welcome guest rather than a nuisance. 

If her diary were a person how surprised it would be to hear how swiftly she had become drawn into the world of Miss Shirley and her Avonlea. 

Snowshoeing across the fields that night had been Miss Shirley’s suggestion, but it was an agreeable one. Katherine’s very blood seemed to sing under the stars, blanketed by the winter chill. Such loveliness was not made to last forever and her tearful conversation with Miss Shirley, Anne, was as mortifying as it was cathartic. She did not have much time to dwell upon it for she was dreadfully sleepy and Anne cuddled close next to her in the spare room bed. 

What golden times the week kept bringing! Katherine was very nearly afraid to write them down for fear they would vanish into thin air. Surely this could not be her life. She half expected to wake up in her Summerside boarding house at any moment. Even reciting at the concert had an unreal quality with the shimmering candlelight and moon glinting off the snow, and Anne’s rapturous smile. 

They hardly had a chance to speak at the party afterward, for Katherine found herself with a surplus of dance and conversational partners. Once or twice she even thought she heard the word ‘striking’ and ‘exotic’ in regards to her looks instead of ‘homely’ or ‘drab.’

Back in the spare room at Green Gables Anne sighed as they helped each other undress. “The holiday is nearly over and I have yet to secure a dance with you, Katherine.” 

Girl friends danced together sometimes. Katherine was perhaps on the older side of what was acceptable, but the sentiment was appreciated. “It’s a shame Davy doesn’t fiddle otherwise we could have a party in the parlour.” 

“We could dance now if you don’t mind nightgowns and all the music being in our own heads,” said Anne. Her tone was bright, yet something in her expression confused Katherine. 

Katherine sunk into a deep curtsy and fluttered her eyelashes up at Anne, “Miss Shirley?” 

“I would be honored to take your hand, Miss Brooke,” Anne gave an equally exaggerated bow and indeed took Katherine’s hand. 

From the outside it was silly, two grown women dancing in their nightclothes giddy on the buoyancy of the evening, but Katherine did not feel ridiculous in the least. If anything she wanted those precious minutes to last forever. With slippered feet they waltzed and as it came to an end Anne tilted her head up and kissed Katherine softly on the lips. 

“Oh Katherine, you are magnificent,” Anne whispered. 

“That’s just the moonlight,” Katherine argued, but she leaned down to take the next kiss Anne was offering. If she learned anything from her time at Green Gables it was to take joy where one found it. 

“If I kiss you in the morning, will you believe me then?” Anne asked as she stepped closer into embrace. 

“If,” Katherine punctuated the word with a kiss initiated by herself, as her heart drummed a loud tattoo. “If you kiss me in the morning, I may be halfway to believing you.” 

Anne stroked her cheek and beamed. “Goodnight then, Queen Katherine.”

The affectionate title was not off-putting thought Katherine had always despised pet-names before. “Goodnight, Fairy Anne.”

Katherine awoke the following morning to sunlight and a kiss.

If only the Summerside Board of Education knew what they had done!


End file.
